To correct Lincoln somewhat, he should have said, \x34. . . that government of the people, by the politicians, and for the politicians shall not perish from the earth.

Government's view of the economy: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it. — Ronald Reagan

In the United States, the majority undertakes to supply a multitude of ready-made opinions for the use of individuals, who are thus relieved from the necessity of forming opinions of their own. -- Alexis de Toqueville

In the business world, if you don’t do your job, you either lose it, or they throw you into some program to correct your deficiency. You have to be accountable. If you’re screwing up (doing something wrong or contrary to company policy), you’d better have a good explanation for your bosses. Even the CEO of a company has to account to his stockholders.Barack Obama and his administration of Democrat bureaucrats has dispensed with accountabliity, either going upward within the administration, or to their (theoretical) bosses, the American people. On the bright side, Obama’s minions, like him, have become great at stonewalling. They act as if they can’t be touched, and shouldn’t be touched, by criticism for their actions. He and they are above all that. None of his officials ever knew about the bad things their subordinates were doing. It's amazing how much they isolate him and his cabinet members from their nefarious activities. They could be bringing on World War III, and Barack wouldn't know, and it wouldn't be his fault.Every time someone criticizes Barack, some scream that it’s based on racism. That’s typical leftist propaganda, and it’s wrong. If Barry didn’t claim to be black, (he’s half-white, and the rest of his genetic makeup isn’t very black, being more Arab than anything else) he’d still get the same criticisms. Criticisms of Barack Obama are really due to his socialist tendencies, his lack of leadership, his refusal to compromise, and his lack of accountability. They add up to total malfeasance in office. In other words, Obama is a lousy president. He makes Jimmy Carter look competent.Let’s consider accountability. Being accountable means (from Merriam) : required to explain actions or decisions to someone: required to be responsible for something.We’ve had numerous examples of blunders or incompetence or outright crimes by the current administration, and Obama and his administrators always stonewall. No one ever takes responsibility. No one of authority is ever fired. The blame is always put at the lowest level.Some examples:-- The terrorist attack on our embassy in Benghazi. Total lack of security precautions before the attack, even after repeated warnings; no aid during the attack, in which our ambassador and three other Americans died; and deliberate disinformation given to the American public after the attack.-- The gunwalking "Fast and Furious" scandal, in which ATF officials allowed deadly firearms to be supplied to Mexican drug gangs. They were used to kill at least one American officer and probably many Mexican civilians. -- The use of the IRS as a political weapon to deliberately deny tax exempt status to conservative organizations;-- The current fiasco in Obamacare; the computer systems weren’t tested sufficiently before placing them in service, so now the people can’t get in (but are required to);And on, and on.In the area of taking responsibility, Obama has failed to:-- take action to improve the economy, which is tanking;-- address the federal deficit;-- address the federal debt;-- reform the tax structure, -- reform entitlements at any level. But, there’s hope. Just last week, a White House official was caught doing something wrong, and was fired for it. What was he doing? Tweeting bad stuff about other Democrats. That’s unforgivable. It’s OK to screw the taxpayers, not do your job, or do it badly, but messing with other Democrats? You have to be accountable for that. (Here’s the link: White House official fired.)